BIO 50 ended, collaboration continues

The 50th anniversary of the Biennial of Design, BIO 50: 3, 2, 1 … TEST, which closed its doors on 7 December 2014, offered 58 new projects by 120 international participants, team mentors, institutions and companies within 11 thematic groups of everyday life. The Biennial that transformed from traditional industrial design exhibition into a multidisciplinary experimentation event to devise possible futures of design attracted 11.000 visitors at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Museum of Modern Art and Jakopič Gallery.

Together with the side events programme BIO 50: NOW consisting of 18 very diverse exhibitions and more than 90 different events, guided tours, workshops, performances and talks that brought design to broader audience, the Biennial were attended by around 50.000 visitors throughout Ljubljana. The exhibition Marko Turk – Homo faber, firstly presented within NOW programme, will be the next exhibition on display at the Museum of Architecture and Design in January 2015.

BIO 50 was accompanied by approximately 30 Slovenian and foreign journalists, including the journalists and editors of important international design media such as Uncube, Dezeen, Abitare, Frame, Designboom, ICON, Disegno, Domus and others that attended the opening week and reported on BIO 50 with a very positive response. As an event endeavoured to redefine the form of design events, it received an immense attention of foreign professional public.

»It is not easy to present experimental research projects of this kind effectively to communicate them to a broad audience, but this show is a resounding success. It is one of the most fascinating and well-organised design events I have experienced in a long time. Boelen and his co-curators Maja Vardjan and Cvetka Požar did an excellent job of connecting key contemporary design issues with the local and the presentation was clear and well documented. Not all of the projects are a success, but failure is part of the process.« Sophie Lovell, Uncube

»Nevertheless, BIO 50 is still one of the best exhibitions of 2014.« Marco Sammicheli, Abitare

»BIO 50 sparks the energy that is currently missing in most of the international design fairs. Moreover, the ambitions have landed in a thought-provoking catalogue, which will last as an optimist testimony of new ways of thinking, new ways of working, and new ways of presenting.« Louise Schouwenberg, Deezen

»Rather than a showcase, BIO 50 is a refreshing platform for experimentation« Anya Lawrence, Disegno

»As BIO 50’s subtitle makes clear, this is a design biennial about trying things out.« Crystal Bennes, Icon

»The kingdom of this openness is one of the great potentials of design in the future: with clever solutions for basic activities and challenges such as housing, mobility, clothing, food and water, can actively interfere with the formation of the society and thereby become an efficient social tool, perhaps even occupy an active role in democracy…« Mateja Kurir, Pogledi

»BIO 50 is emerged at the right time at the right place because it combines the issues and aspirations of the young creatives in a unique event that returns to design for real problems of the real people.« Matic Brdnik, Pita

The results of the projects at the Biennial of Design brought us a unique overview of possible futures for design marked with the main principles - the process and collaboration. They responded to the issues and challenges of everyday life that go far beyond the geographical borders.

We experienced great collaborative spirit with very diverse never again repeated projects, exploration, experimentation, learning and collaboration by team members as well as traces of possible continuation of cooperation in the future.

As Jan Boelen, BIO 50 curator, stated: »In this Biennial of Design the destination is not important - it's the journey that counts. That was and still is a journey or an event without an end. Many new paths and encounters are discovered and need to be explored the coming years. I am curious to see what will be the results, the new topics and the outcome in the next 6 months.«

Matevž Čelik, director of the BIO and MAO, pointed out: »Design as a profession should develop and respond to the challenges of time. Demanding economic circumstances are both the opportunity and obstacle especially for the younger generation of still unknown designers. BIO as an incubator and space for experimentation is in this sense the platform that encourages design as a cultural invention which is the basement for the added value of products and services.«

The Biennial of Design could never be organised in such extent without the generous support of main partners, sponsors and supporters therefore we sincerely thank them for their contributions. The significant thanks also go to all team members, mentors and partner companies for sharing their exciting ideas within BIO 50.

Looking forward to the next Biennial of Design in 2016!

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